Confirmed Again
In Psalm 8, David extols the glory of Jehovah, and he
marvels that God has been so mindful of man as to place the creation
under his dominion. The context stresses man’s responsibility over the
earth.
In discussing some of earth’s creatures, of which man is in charge, the
writer mentions passing through “...the paths of the seas” (Psalm
8:8). This expression is interesting because the phrase contains a
precise fact about the seas that David, whose experience was limited to
a tiny country on the Mediterranean coast, could never have known from
firsthand information.
It was not until the mid-nineteenth century that the discovery was made regarding currents (literally “paths”) in the sea. In 1860, a pioneer in oceanography, Matthew Fontaine Maury, was the first to suggest that the ocean was a circulating system. His book on physical oceanography is still a highly regarded source of
Matthew Fontaine Maury
1806-1873
information on this science.
Consider, for example, the Gulf Stream. The Gulf Stream flows from the
east coast of North America toward Europe. It is about 50 miles wide and
3,000 feet deep. Its rate of flow, measured in volume per second, is
about 1,000 times greater than the Mississippi River. At some places, it
moves at almost 140 miles per hour. Many ocean vessels “ride” this
current in order to save valuable shipping time.
According to Charles L. Lewis, in his book, Matthew Fontaine Maury,
Pathfinder of the Seas (1927), once when Maury was ill and confined to
bed, his son was reading to him the Scriptures—Psalm 8. When mention was
made of the “paths of the sea,” Maury declared: “If God said
there are paths in the sea, I will find them…” The rest is history.
There is a monument in Richmond, Virginia, erected as a tribute to
Matthew Maury. In part it reads: “Matthew Fontaine Maury, Pathfinder of
the seas, the genius who first snatched from the ocean and atmosphere
the secret of their laws...His inspiration Holy Writ…” God’s word is
accurate!